Prom Dresses
by Kimberly18
Summary: Casey never expected this to happen. Her beautiful prom dress was ruined, thanks to him. Inspiration from the upcoming episode, Make No Promises. One-shot.


**A/N: **After lurking around for years, I finally decided to contribute a story. While I've written in script style before, I'm brand-new to writing in narrative form. However, I was very inspired by the upcoming "Make No Prom-ises" and the hint of a Derek/Casey hug in the future.

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I don't own LWD.

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I never expected this to happen. 

My beautiful prom dress was ruined, thanks to _him_. Sure, he hasn't admitted it yet, but he's the culprit of my daily problems. It's only natural for me to blame him. Plus, he was the only one in the house when I left this morning to buy shoes with Emily. Mom and George were attending a parenting retreat this weekend, while Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti were spending the night at friends' houses. So who else could it be?

It didn't help that he acted strangely distant when I had walked in earlier. As usual, he was sitting on his recliner watching a hockey game, but he completely ignored my presence. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but I at least expected a snide remark to pass his lips, but he was completely engrossed in his game the entire time. When he finally saw me some thirty minutes later, he stumbled through his words and ran out the door, rattling off some excuse about playing some street hockey with Sam and Ralph.

At that moment, I heard a door slam from downstairs. Most likely, it was Derek, and he would be rushing up the stairs any second to grab the shower. 3.…2.….

Click. The door opened behind me, and I saw a very flustered Derek leaning against my doorframe, with something tucked behind his back.

"Uh, hey Casey. What are you doing here? I thought you went back to Emily's."

Something was definitely up, but I decided to play it for all it was worth. This could be fun.

"Why would you think that? You saw me downstairs earlier in the kitchen making a salad. I was preparing myself for a stress-free weekend. But you know…I found the strangest surprise."

Derek let out a nervous laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh really?"

"Yep. Something happened to my prom dress."

Derek's eyes grew big and immediately found his shoes to be fascinating. He seemed to be stuttering some sort of response, but I couldn't help but note his strange reaction. It both confirmed my suspicion but left me completely confused. The guy was acting as if he had been caught at the scene of a crime.

Maybe I wasn't giving him the correct reaction. My "Der-eks!" were turning out to be legendary in that house, but why wasn't he riling me up? Why wasn't he giving me that pathetic smirk of his? If anything, this was the time to perform his daily goal: Make Casey mad and laugh hysterically afterwards. I swear, he gets some sort of twisted pleasure from seeing me angry.

When he finally looked me in the eyes, two completely foreign words spilled out of his mouth. "I'm sorry."

"S-Sorry? I didn't even tell you what happened!" He was sorry!?! Since when was Derek ever sorry for his actions? I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming and immediately regretted it. Ouch! Maybe Derek was right about cutting my nails.

I raised my head to look back at Derek and realized he had left my room. I always knew I got lost in my thoughts, but this won the gold. So much for figuring out what was behind his back.

In order to clear my head, I decided to take advantage of the free bathroom and take a good bubble bath. That always seemed to work wonders with me for I was able to fully escape reality, a reality that involved Derek.

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I finally shuffled out of the bathroom wearing my favorite frog pajamas and bunny slippers feeling completely relaxed. All the problems this morning brought were completely erased from my head, and I even had a small kick in my step. My prom dress was ruined, but I still had time for a replacement. Also, with Derek as the perpetrator, I knew I would be getting back a nice chunk of cash in order to keep my mouth shut around George and my mom.

Nothing would have prepared me for what lie past my bedroom door though. As I opened the door, I saw a full length pink gown that was fit for a queen. Wait, make that a princess. As I neared the dress, I studied the intricate design on the bodice and the material. Who could have….no!

"Der-ek!"

"You rang?" I turned around to see a gloating Derek leaning against the doorframe. Gone was the nervous, twitchy Derek that seemed so foreign to me. Instead, the cocky Derek I had lived with for the past year was staring me back in the face. Despite his arrogance, it was strangely comforting to see him back to normal.

I raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

He scoffed. "Me? I haven't done anything."

"Funny, because when I left this room a few minutes ago, a ratty blue prom dress was hanging on my closet door. When I came back, this gorgeous pink gown was here instead."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Well maybe you should get your eyes checked. I don't recall this blue dress of which you speak."

"And maybe you should admit to having a heart. I know you did this. I'm just trying to figure out how."

As he strolled up to me, Derek continued to speak. "So call me the Tin Man. I still didn't do anything. Thank Kendra for having a mother who owns a dress shop. You know how Kendra is about romance. She heard about the incident, went crazy, and found the dress. So please, give your sappy speech to her."

"Hmm. She heard about the incident you say? Well, I know Kendra is the queen of rumor control, but she had to have a source, and I think it was you. Admit it. You have a heart. You actually wanted my prom night to be special."

Derek plopped down on my bed and rolled his eyes yet again. "Please. If I wanted to make your prom night special, I would have ordered some pig's blood and made you prom queen just to spill it on top of you. You know I was always a fan of Stephen King."

"Deny this all you want. There's a softie under your tough guy exterior. I just hope to have it on tape someday for the student body to see."

"That'll never happen, princess," Derek said with a smirk.

Hearing the word princess, I looked back at the dress and smiled. I knew I would feel like royalty when I wore it that night. As I saw Derek stand up, I stopped him before he reached the door.

"Derek?"

"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow as he turned around to look at me.

"Thanks." I smiled and pulled him into a hug before he could protest. I caught him by surprise and he stood stiffly for a few seconds before finally wrapping his arms around my waist. I finally understand why all the girls at school want his attention. It felt good to be in his arms and I couldn't help myself from catching a slight whiff of his cologne. I tried to snap myself out of this semi-trance, but for once, I just enjoyed the moment. Consequences be damned.

As I released Derek from the hug, I noticed that a smile was plastered on both of our faces.

Derek broke the silence. "So is the prom dress okay?"

"It's more than okay. It's perfect."


End file.
